Iraq issues international arrest warrants for more than 200 drug traffickers

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's General Directorate for Drugs and Psychotropic Substances has obtained international arrest warrants for more than 200 drug traffickers, the directorate's media officer, Colonel Abbas al-Bahadli, told the official Iraqi news agency. Al-Bahadli said the warrants reflect Iraq's strengthened position in regional intelligence sharing on narcotics. The directorate has built what officials describe as a comprehensive database on traffickers and has been ranked by other states as a leading partner in cross-border information exchange, according to al-Bahadli. He said the largest criminal networks operating during the period in question had been dismantled, with operations targeting the top figures in smuggling rings. Al-Bahadli added that the crackdown has changed the economics of trafficking inside Iraq, with merchants who concluded the trade was no longer profitable choosing to abandon it. No further details on the warrants or specific operations were immediately available.